The present invention relates to safes, and especially to floor saves, which are anchored into a floor of a building.
In the past, it has been common to provide a great variety of safes for use in home, office and commerical buildings for the storage of valuables and to prevent damage to papers, and the like, in the event of a fire or other catastrophe. Typically, such safes may be free standing safes or they can be built into the wall of a building or into the floor. In the case of a floor safe, it is common to use a heavy steel security container with a recessed safe door which may be anchored in poured concrete to prevent the removal of the safe, as well as to give added insulation from heat in case of a fire. Since the floor safes are frequently made of heavy steel walls anchored in concrete, the most vulnearable portion of the safe is the door.
It has been common to use a heavier recessed safe door than the steel that might be used to make a security container and to use heavy combination locks and handle. However, depending upon the use of the safe, different thickness of safe doors may be utilized. The heavy steel doors are usually hinged to one side of the safe with a steel shaft mounted in hinge barrels mounted to the wall or to a flange of the safe. The safe can then be locked from the other side away from the hinge. However, this type of hinge makes it difficult to replace the door and it sometimes becomes desirable to change the door for demonstrations in a locksmith's display or a customer may desire to have the safe door replaced with a heavier door.
The present invention is adapted to allow the quick removal of the door from the safe and replacement of the safe door with a heavier or different door. This is accomplished by utilizing a hinge which allows the door to merely be lifted off when the door is opened and quickly replaced with the same or different door, but which is locked against the unauthorized entry through the door when the door is closed.